Steffanie Lewis's blog

EB-5 Q&A: Whether an earlier investment qualify for a standard EB-5 investment

Question: How can I make an earlier investment qualify for EB-5?
Question Detail: I am a partner for a company in Asia. In October of last year, my company invested $1.5 million in a real estate project in Texas. Since then, we have hired 20 employees already, and I am the sole owner of the U.S. company. How can I apply for the EB-5 category now with that investment?  What premium processing options do I have?

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EB-5 Q&A: How can you verify the legitimacy of a direct investment broker

Question: How can I verify the legitimacy of a direct investment broker?
Question Detail: I have been approached by a U.S. company wishing to raise funds for my company through direct EB-5 investments, and I wanted to see if there are any ways to determine their legitimacy in regards to USCIS or any other governing bodies. Is there an avenue to verify a company representing "direct" non-regional center investments for domestic companies?

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EB-5 Q&A: How to calculate jobs in a standard EB-5 investment

Question: What are the employment restrictions for an EB-5 investor in a direct business? Question Detail: Can an EB-5 investor be employed for compensation at the business in which they invest? If this is possible, are there salary restrictions? Will this employment affect job creation requirements? Answer: An investor may be employed by the business enterprise in which he or she invested, but neither the jobs held by the investor nor family members may be included when proving the 10 full-time position created by the investment.

EB-5 Q&A: Whether an F-1 visa holder can apply for an H1-B and EB-5

Question: How can an F-1 visa holder apply for an H-1B and EB-5 visa?
Question Detail: I am currently still a student working on an F-1 visa, and I will apply for an H-1B sponsored by my employer. I am also considering submitting an application for a green card through EB-5. Will the H-1B application be impacted if I submit the EB-5 application first? In what order should I apply for the visas?

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EB-5 Q&A：How to obtain permanent residency via EB-5 while stay outside the U.S.

Question: How can my child who will be studying abroad receive his green card? Question Detail: I plan to apply for the EB-5 visa, but my son, who is 18 years old, will be studying medicine for the next six years in Europe. Will he get his green card if he does not reside full-time in the United States? Would he be eligible if he visited us during his vacations? How can my son also receive his green card through EB-5?

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EB-5 Q&A How to make my business eligible for a standard EB-5 investment

Question: How can I make my EB-5 investment work?
Question Detail: For my EB-5 project, I am planning to buy a company for about $600,000. It it in a targeted employment area and has a dual portfolio: the company develops software and does medical billing, as well as invests in properties. How would it be possible for me to buy that company and through that corporation invest my money in real estate and operations/growth of the company? Most of the jobs will be made in software development, but most of the investment will be in real estate. How can I make this eligible for EB5?

EB-5 Q&A Things you need to prove at the I-829 stage

Question: What do I need to prove at the I-829 stage?

Question Detail: I understand that I need to prove I have created at least 10 direct or indirect jobs. What else do I need to prove besides the job creation requirement? I hear that I need to prove that the economic report went the same way as was stated at the I-526 stage, and that financial goals and milestones have been met too. Is that true? What will satisfy this requirement? What if the jobs are created, but the financial goals and milestones are not met?

 

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